• THERESA MAE DULMAN
The Bacolod City Veterinary Office has recorded a new case of African swine fever (ASF) following a random sampling conducted at the slaughterhouse.
Assistant city veterinarian, Dr. Janine Sarthou, said July 14 that they are currently backtracking to determine the exact barangay of origin of the infected hog before it was brought to the abattoir.
Sarthou said the latest case brings the city’s total ASF to five positive detections, aside from the two cases in Barangay Taculing, and another two in Barangay Alijis.
“(In) the 500-meter (monitoring) radius in Alijis and Taculing, so far, negative, but there was a reported death in Purok Malipayon, Alijis as well,” she added.
The city veterinary team is ramping up active surveillance and has scheduled six more blood samples for testing this week from barangays Bata, Alijis, Taculing, and Granada.
Barangay Granada recently reported two hog deaths exhibiting classic symptoms of the virus, such as red skin patches.
Samples tested since June 30 already reached more than 20, the city said.
But veterinary personnel also faced resistance from some local hog raisers, who repeatedly barred them from entering their properties due to fears that the team might accidentally transmit the virus between farms.
“We also understand that they are implementing their own biosecurity measures on their farms. That is why we have to educate them as well that this (surveillance testing) is necessary so we can determine whether we need to expand our monitoring radius, or not,” Sarthou said.
“If we limit ourselves only to where deaths have already occurred, it will be difficult for us to survey the areas that have not yet recorded any hog death,” she added. | TMD
